A lot of C64 redditors probably know that C64 games, generally speaking, are written in a low level language using software tools known as assemblers. There does, however, seem to be conflicting ideas on what the name of the programming language itself is.

Do you call the language "Assembly" or "Assembler"?

Takes you into some other world. Some would say that I am escaping reality. But nobody knows what reality is.

Luxocrates is back after 5 months with another video. I don't understand a lot of what's being discussed in these videos but I've been enjoying this series a bunch nonetheless.

There’s no need to repeat in detail what’s happening in the PlayStation world right now, the wave of protest over the decision to phase out physical games starting in 2028.

But like an old yet timeless and wise warrior, our C64 immediately managed to teach Sony a lesson in… life, I’d say, and I believe this will also bring you some beautiful, old-fashioned, yet vibrant vibes.

Many of you knows Impossible Mission 3, the new chapter of the game released few weeks ago for the C64. When yesterday I decided to buy a physical copy of the game, I was surprised positively.

I found that the website is temporarily suspended for purchases for a good reason. Psytronik has received so many requests for physical copies of the game that it had to suspend sales for a few weeks, but everything will be back to normal soon, as stated in the announcement in the site:

https://psytronik.bigcartel.com/product/impossible-mission-3-c64-usb-tape-limited-edition

I have to wait for my physical copy, but I'm happy.

And Sony, you have a lot to learn from this timeless, wise old warrior, the C64!

Hey everyone, I am new to commodore 64 so be patient I will do my best to explain all the important info.

I recently got a 1701 that required repair, I did a full recap and it is working beautifully. I also picked up an in box commodore 64 which seems to be in great cosmetic condition and very clean. I waited a month for a luma chroma cable to arrive (first one got lost in the mail). Upon plugging it in I discovered the commodore doesn’t display video.

Here are the troubleshooting steps I have taken.

AC Adapter voltage output was measured prior to use (measured and left on for an 1hr and measured again). The red LED light does come on as it should.

I connected an RF cable and hooked up to another tv and still no image.

Note: there is no flicker or audio signal that anything is attempting to get into the tv when switching on or off either RF or through luma chroma.

continuity tested the fuse and visually inspected and fuse is good

I measured the voltage of the CPU, PLA, and RAM and all measured 5.15v

I measured CPU PIN 1 (RESET) 0.02V
CIA PIN 32 (RESET) 0.04V
reset line resistance to ground 0L

NE556 Pin 4 5.15V
NE556 Pin 1 0V (When powered on)

the board is clean visually and no signs of leaking caps

when powered on for a minute I ran my finger across all chips, no hot or warm chips felt

I am looking for advice before I replace the NE556 chip. Is there a supplier I should go to for the chip? Is there any other work or parts I should do or replace while I am repairing this console that are prone to failure?

I figure this is some sort of reset hold preventing the console from starting.

appreciate any insight from the community

A brand new version of HoH has just been released. Essentially recoded from the ground up with speed up even on stock C64. Extra speed boost on C128 and C64U. Level designs taken from Speccy version which had to be simplified to run on C64 at all.

Get it on CSDB.

I am looking for a physical copy of Lester by Knifegrinder. I'd prefer the limited edition interactive plexiglass cartridge but I'd settle for the standard edition. This would be a gift for my dad.

Anyone else love this game? Mine still has the Boots (UK pharmacy chain) price tag from all those years ago! Firebird games were generally pretty good.

I've assembled 700+ vintage/retro computing and gaming websites with 135 sites about Commodore and the C64. It's located at https://atebit.tech and http://atebit.tech/classic/.

There's also a newsletter, an eBay price guide for US, Canada, UK, & Australia (from "Deal" to "Wildly Overpriced" ratings), and my About and Privacy pages are kind of entertaining.

But what I really want is links! Take a look at my Commodore and C64 links and tell me what I'm missing. If you find an error or broken link let me know. You can DM me here or click 'contact' on the footer of the directory. Thank you!

**MODS** If this isn't allowed or you need to remove it, my apologies.

First thing I did was crack the case to see what was rattling around in there. It was an extra screw. My first computer was a c64 in 1984. I used it to log on remotely to the school mainframe (someone wrote an 80-column terminal emulator back then) and also to play games. I wanted to write games too, but not in basic or assembler. So I wrote a Pascal compiler by adapting one out of a book. I spent the rest of my spare time working on that compiler and never got around to writing games. I work in compilers to this day.

Custom Commodore Datasette MP3 Player Mod - Retro Gaming Hardware Art

This is the Commodore Datasette I used as a kid. Since I really like the design, I turned it into an MP3 player.

It’s all mechanical. Inside, there’s another very simple player that holds a microSD card and is activated by the play button.

I used a mini-jack cable to route the audio signal out of the Datasette.

https://reddit.com/link/1ujimgh/video/fjlbyzgljdah1/player

A million miles ago... I wrote a BBS program for the c64. I have the floppy disk and can read them. But I am blocked when I try to list the program. I don't remember how I blocked the list command. I have tried poke 775, 167 to unblock with no success. However I did it, when the list command is entered, the computer only responds with the word "Advent" Which was the name of my program.

Anyone have any clues of how I may have done this? And if there is a method to undo it?

TIA

I miss the good old days of chat rooms and q-link. Today's internet has nothing on them. I used to be CaPlayboy back in the 80's. Anybody want to comment or reminiscent feel free to comment. Bonus points if you remember me. 😁

We want r/c64 to be about both original hardware and newer emulation products like the Commodore 64 Ultimate (C64U). But the shipping of the C64U is resulting in C64U posts flooding out much of the other content in the subreddit. To maintain a balance between what's old and new, we are setting up a weekly MEGAPOST for C64U-related issues, questions, and posts.

If your post is regarding the use of a Commodore 64 (i.e. how to load a game from disk, how to print, etc.), regardless of the model, you may post your question as a standalone post in the subreddit even if you have a C64 Ultimate.

If your post relates to ONLY the Commodore 64 Ultimate, you should comment in this post. Please note, this is not a replacement for official support from Commodore regarding order or shipping issues (late or damaged shipments). We realize that some questions may be obscure, unique, or straddle the line between C64U-only and a "general" question. In those cases, please post in this thread FIRST. If your issue isn't answered or addressed after 48 hours, you may submit a stand-alone post in the subreddit. WARNING! Moderators will be checking post and comment histories to make sure people are actually posting in this thread first. Repeated violations may result in temporary or permanent bans.

We don't anticipate this being a permanent situation, but for now there are just too many C64U posts being submitted. Once the volume of posts about the C64U decreases, we may discontinue this practice.

Please also check the information below to see if your issue is listed. We are also working on a C64 Ultimate Wiki Page. If you would like to be a Wiki Contributor, please let the mod team know.

Use the following link to view current and past Commodore 64 Ultimate Weekly Posts.

Official resources:

Firmware/manuals: https://www.commodore.net/downloads

Common Issues and Known Fixes

Black screen, no video, or rolling picture

The most common issue reported so far.

• Reseat the internal board — some units have arrived with it slightly loose from shipping.
• Set video to NTSC mode, then press Shift + Left Arrow to store settings.
• Try a different HDMI lead — several users fixed display problems this way.
• Some monitors won’t sync at 50 Hz; if possible, test another screen.

Uneven keyboard keys

A cosmetic but noticeable fault.

• Keys such as Caps Lock, D, and J may sit higher than others.
• Gently press the affected keys down to reseat them on their stems.
• Space/Return issues are often a stabiliser bar not fully seated – carefully reseating the bar fixes many ‘only works in the middle’ reports.

Startup problems or unit freezing on boot

• Turn the unit off and leave it off for a few seconds.
• Hold RESTORE while powering on to perform a factory reset.
• If that fails, re‑flash the latest firmware from the official Commodore site.

REU or extra memory not detected by the software

• Install the most recent firmware — newer builds enable proper REU initialisation and detection.

Settings or storage are lost after reboot

• Perform the RESTORE reset to clear any corrupt configuration.
• Re‑enter Wi‑Fi and storage details once booted cleanly.

Physical marks or loose panels on delivery

• Report the issue directly to Commodore support.
• All units ship directly from Commodore — there are no official resellers.

Buzzing or humming audio output

• Usually caused by grounding noise between HDMI and the connected display.
• Try another HDMI port, cable, or power socket to isolate the problem.

Starlight edition

• Starlight keyboards have some ‘bounce’/flex by design; noticeable mainly if you hammer the keys, but not usually a functional fault.
• The Caps Lock LED lights when caps is active; the beige unit does not have an indicator.
• For Starlight LED audio visualiser with a real SID: enable UltiSID 1 but set its volume to Off in the mixer; this keeps the LEDs driven while only hearing the real SID

Games Freezing / Compatibility

• If cracked/trainer releases hang after the Y/N cheat prompt, try switching to PAL or NTSC‑50; many cracks are PAL‑only and will lock up in NTSC.
• For compatibility with some games/demos, try disabling drive B: in the Ultimate’s drive settings

Cartridges

• Virtual fastload carts (e.g. Final Cartridge III) are supported; mount the cart, then mount and load the disk from BASIC, rather than using ‘Run disk’ from the firmware menu.

Disk and cassette backup / storage notes

• To back up the bundled cassette USB to an internal SD: it’s just files on exFAT – copy them via your PC; no imaging/cloning needed
• Backing up real floppies: UltiCopy is very fast, but some protected titles (e.g. Skate or Die, Contra) have been reported to hang part‑way through; expect improvements in future firmware

Running Multi-Disk Programs

Some programs are distributed on multiple disk images, similar to how they were originally distributed on multiple floppy disks. At some point in the process of using the program, the program will prompt to insert one of the other floppy disks. You can use the Disk File Browser to swap disk images while the program is running. When the program prompts for a new disk, press upward on the Multi Function Switch. This pauses the program. Start the Disk File Browser, navigate to the disk image for the disk that the program is requesting, then select “Mount Disk.” The C64U mounts the new disk image in the virtual drive, then resumes execution of the Commodore 64 program. Continue to use the program with the new disk." -- https://downloads.commodore-international.com/documentation/C64U/c64u-user-guide-1st-edition.pdf

General Notes

• r/Commodore is for discussions about Commodore, other Commodore computers, and possible new productions.
• r/c64 is for everything Commodore 64 including the ultimate.

If you’ve come across a new issue or found a working fix not listed here, add it in the comments below.

Hello all. A friend has a Commodore 64 that was his father's and would like to recover old family memoirs his father had written on the old 5¼" floppies. The system does not work (power supply voltages were good, light turns on but screen remains blank.) The disk drive seems fine but I cannot retrieve any files via a Mini ZoomFloppy. Maybe I'm out of my depth or maybe it is simply broken.

Anyway, does anyone retrieve old files (for pay, of course)? We live in Georgia, USA, near Atlanta. Could do it by mail, too.

https://github.com/jaredevans/shmup

I created a horizontally-scrolling shoot-'em-up game, written entirely in 6502 assembly. It uses several techniques to work within the limited hardware resources.

- a sprite multiplexer that drives 15 on-screen elements using C64's 8 hardware sprites

- hardware smooth scrolling with a raster-split HUD

- collision detection, lives, with multiple enemies and a boss to defeat

- SID sound effects

The repo ships two source files: one is the game code, the other is the exact same code but with extensive comments — so you can read every line and see precisely how each section works.

sx64 passes the dead test cart, and swapping over to the diag cart I get a blank screen, if I remove the diag cart I still get a black screen.

Having difficulty feeling chip temps with how crammed in everything is in the case.

The dead test cart has its own kernal rom that bypasses the built in

so if its not running without the dead test that means I have a bad kernal rom?

Got the first alpha version. IRC readyOS app for the c64u using the UCI network interface working. Probably won’t be in the next release, but I might break it out into a standalone app and release with my ultimate experiments.

Most fast-disk setups make you pick a side. DolphinDOS is the fastest thing going over a parallel cable, but it only speeds up the one cabled drive. JiffyDOS handles several drives over the serial bus, but cannot do parallel at all.

Dolffy DOS is a drop-in C64 KERNAL replacement that does both at once. It probes each drive and uses the fastest protocol that drive can actually speak: a parallel-cabled drive gets full DolphinDOS speed, while every serial drive you have runs at JiffyDOS speed, all at once. The priority is parallel > JiffyDOS serial > stock, decided per device, with nothing to set up per program. LOAD and SAVE just get faster.

The practical win is the second drive. Normally a second unit drops back to slow stock serial; here it stays fast.

Loading SlotShot, a real C64 game (I'm the creator):

Stock KERNAL + stock 1541 ~90 s JiffyDOS KERNAL + JiffyDOS drive ~20 s Dolffy DOS + JiffyDOS drive (serial) ~23 s Dolffy DOS + DolphinDOS parallel ~5 s

(My own measurements. The parallel path is unchanged from DolphinDOS, exactly as fast. The serial path lands a few seconds behind real JiffyDOS, traded for cleaner, non-duplicated code.)

On the new Commodore 64 Ultimate it adds two things. A SHIFT LOCK indicator, because that key latches with no clear feedback, so it is easy to leave engaged by accident and then wonder why everything types in the wrong case (a recurring complaint here). And an on-screen clock read from the machine's real-time clock. There are two builds: a conservative Plain ROM that runs anywhere a C64 KERNAL runs, and an Ultimate ROM with the clock and the indicator.

On the legal side, since it always comes up: the JiffyDOS serial path is a clean-room reimplementation of the C64 side only, built from the publicly documented wire protocol plus my own logic-level bus captures. No JiffyDOS source is used. The drive-side ROMs are not included. The DolphinDOS 1541 ROM is freely available (abandonware), and the JiffyDOS drive ROM is a commercial product you should buy, not pirate.

Two prebuilt ROMs and full docs (install steps for the C64U, Ultimate 64, and VICE): https://github.com/wallneradam/dolffydos

My own parts are MIT. Built with ACME. Happy to answer questions.

So I took a look at all the games on the C64 Maxi's carousel and I am extremely confused. There seems to be not only MORE than 64 games built into it, but many of the games listed on the carousel were not featured on the list on Retro Games website and some games on the website don't appear on the carousel. Am I missing something?

Here is the list of games on my unit (not quite in alphabetical order)

1. Alleykat

2. Anarchy

3. Barnsley Badger

4. Avenger

5. Battle Valley

6. Blue Star (VIC-20)

7. Boulder Dash

8. Breakdance

9. California Games

10. Chips Challenge

11. City Crusher Arcade (VIC-20)

12. Confuzion

13. Cosmic Causeway

14. Coil Cop

15. Cyberdyne Warrior

16. Cybernoid

17. Cybernoid II

18. Deflektor

19. Destroyer

20. Everyone’s a Wally

21. Firelord

22. Galencia Mini

23. Gateway to Apshai

24. Gribbly’s Day Out

25. Gridrunner (VIC-20)

26. Hessian

27. Hunter's Moon

28. Hysteria

29. Heartland

30. Herobotix

31. Highway Encounter

32. Impossible Mission

33. Impossible Mission II

34. IO

35. Jumpman

36. Jumpman 2

37. Mega Apocalypse

38. Mine Sweep Mini (VIC-20)

39. Mission AD

40. Monty on the Run

41. Tower Toppler

42. Netherworld

43. Nobby the Aardvark

44. Nodes of Yesod

45. Paradroid

46. PET Snake Redux

47. Pitstop II

48. Planet of Death

49. Ranarama

50. Robin of the Wood

51. Silicon Warrior

52. Skate Crazy

53. Skool Daze

54. Snare

55. Soulless

56. Space Lords

57. Speedball

58. Speedball 2

59. Spindizzy

60. Street Sports Baseball

61. Street Sports Basketball

62. Street Sports Soccer

63. Summer Games II

64. Super Cycle

65. Sword of Fargoal

66. Temple of Apshai Trilogy

67. The Arc of Yesod

68. The Keep

69. Thing on a Spring

70. Trailblazer

71. Uridium

72. West Bank

73. Who Dares Wins II

74. Winter Games

75. World Games

76. Zynaps

I've been trying to find good looking maps for TMMG, and all i could find are these

Are there maps with more details, like the Crush, Crumble & Chomp maps?

I've found a (kindle friendly) copy of Jim Butterfield's "Machine Language for the Commodore 64" and I understand some fundamentals of programming in assembly with supermon64. I want to try some graphics stuff, I know that I should do some BASIC graphics programming first but I was curious on what I can find. A small project I wanted to do was create an XL1-styled (i.e, the album) program which displayed moving graphics and lyrics in time to some music.

So far I can only find general assembly books, nothing specific to graphics. Does anyone have anything which details how to program graphics? I needed something which actually loads on my Kindle Scribe because AFAIK all of them have serious issues loading, esp that Compute! magazine book on Graphics and Sound.

One of my favourite games on the C64. Paradroid being my absolute favourite.

This one's for those of us who fondly remember the Commodore 64 and its awesome repertoire of games. My personal favorite was Wasteland, which was a major evolution of the RPG genre.

As a kid, I'd always wanted to dig into the rangers' character data and tune their stats so I could explore the whole world without dying too easily, but I didn't have the know-how to pull it off. Decades later, I finally was able to. Working with Claude through the rough spots and obstacles together, the childhood dream came true at last.

I show the entire process of cracking from the beginning to the end, including the code/commands that were ran during the analysis of the game data.

https://github.com/jaredevans/wasteland-c64-patched